Luxen Forest (5)

"I want you to cast [Lightning Arrow] on my hand," Vivian said and stretched out her hand.

A worried expression appeared on Felize's face. 

"A-Are you sure...?"

"I'm a Priest, remember?"

If Felize were to be honest, at this moment, couldn't see Vivian as a Priest.

Based on what she knows, although Priests can be snobbish and distant, once they talk to you, they're usually pleasant. On top of that, they're not known to be violent. 

She raised her hand and aimed it at Vivian's palm.

She prayed to all the deities she knew before casting a spell.

[Lightning Arrow].

Pscht!

An arrow made out of a bright and white electricity shot out of her hand and onto Vivian's palm.

The moment the arrow hit Vivian's palm, it was as if it hit an impenetrable wall and disappeared upon contact. But despite that, Vivian still felt a small jolt, causing her body to twitch a little a bit. It was similar to when a person accidentally touches an empty socket and gets electrocuted. The only difference was that Vivian didn't feel any pain.

Vivian's brows knitted together before turning to Felize.

"Does [Lightning Arrow] not have any damage and just electrocutes a target?"

"I'm very sorry!" Felize cried out and bowed her head.

"Stop being so jumpy and just answer me properly."

Felize slowly raised her head.

"I-I-I'm very, but [Lightning Arrow] can cause damage to a target... I-It's just that your Magic Power or Magic Defense is just too high and I just recently opened my [Lightning Mastery]..."

My Magic Defense…?

She recalled the things listed on her Status Panel.

I don't recall anything about Magic Defense being listed there…

But what is Magic Defense based on…? 

Vitality…?

Or Intelligence…?

Or perhaps both…?

"You're a Wizard, right? Do you know what Strength, Vitality, Agility and Intelligence are?"

"S-Sorry, but I'm not sure what you're talking about. But Strength is about Physical Strength and Defense...?" Felize answered sheepishly.

"Do you know what's a Status Panel?"

"Status Panel...?" Felize asked with a confused expression written all over her face.

Vivian looked at the others.

"How about you two, do you know what's a Status Panel?"

Gaze and Torr looked at each other before returning their gaze to Vivian.

"Sorry, but we don't know..."

"Hmm…" Vivian massaged her chin and then turned to Felize. "Let's say you learned a new skill. How do you know that you learned a new skill?"

Felize's eyes blinked for a moment, confused by another weird question thrown by Vivian and how to answer it.

"Y-You just know... It just comes to you..."

"Just like that?"

"Y-Yes..."

"I see, I see," Vivian muttered under her breath as she stared at the ground before returning her attention at Felize. "How many times can you shoot [Lightning Arrow] in a row?"

"Once every 30-40 minutes..."

Vivian raised her head and looked at the sky.

By her estimate, it was around 3:30 p.m.

I've already taken 2 shots and will need 18 more to open [Lightning Mastery]…

Looks like I won't be able to open this before the sun sets…

I don't want to be here in the forest at night…

I'll just have them accompany me to another pla--

Wait…!

Shit…!

I can't let them know I attract monsters…

But do I really have to care about that, though…?

She stared at the kids for a moment before finally shaking her head.

Like they say, it's better to be safe than sorry...

I'll just pretend that I have some errands to do and have them meet me later at…

Um…

I guess at Shirley's Tavern…?

Yeah, yeah…

It's a place for Copper and Silver Ranks after all…

Vivian returned her attention to Felize.

"I see. Okay, so where do you want me to hit you with a [Wind Arrow]?"

Felize eyes turned wide. She was honestly thinking that Vivian wasn't serious when she told them that she was going to help them open their Magic Art Mastery. But seeing that Vivian was really going to do it, memories of the Awakening Ceremony of her [Lightning Mastery] flashed inside her head.

After all, an Awakening Ceremony costs 50 gold coins which includes healing.

For her, it was so expensive that even after her family saved and borrowed money, Gaze and Torr's family also had to help as well.

"Are you really sure you're going to help me open my [Wind Mastery]…?" Felize asked just to really confirm it. If this was a joke or another sadistic play from Vivian, it would really hurt her.

"Yes."

"You won't ask for anything…?"

"Just the things I asked earlier."

"T-That we're not going to touch the Bukaroo Quest until you become Silver I Rank and I'm going to hit you with [Lightning Arrow]…?"

"Stop asking useless questions and just tell me where I should hit you. I'm a very busy person. I still have other matters to attend to tonight."

Gaze, Torr and Felize's eyes blinked.

In their heads, they all knew that Priests, even if they're just Brown Cloaks, live in a different financial world.

And although they didn't think Vivian was a daughter of a noble, let alone a royal, they all suspected that she must be a daughter of some rich merchant and she grew up spoiled all of her life. And combined that with her beauty, strength, her 3 Magic Arts and her status as a Priest, it was no wonder that she turned out this way.

Moreover, despite this being a painful experience, they viewed it as a wake-up call regarding the reality of being an adventure. Of course, they heard stories about unlawful adventurers and adventurers fighting amongst each other when out on a quest, but they didn't expect to meet one right away when it hadn't even been a week since they became adventurers.

Felize removed her left glove and presented her palm to Vivian.

"H-Here, Priestess..."

Vivian raised her hand and activated a skill.

[Wind Arrow].

Woooh!

An arrow made out of green aura burst out of her hand and shot through Felize's palm like it was nothing.

"AHHH!!!"

Felize cried out in pain as she held her wrist and leaned forward.

Vivian looked at Gaze and Torr.

"The both of you come here and hold her properly. I'm going to shoot 3 [Wind Arrow] spells before casting [Heal] on her so that she can open [Wind Mastery] as soon as possible."

The two boys quickly got up and held her shoulders.

***

Some time later…

The sky was almost getting dark.

[Heal].

A faint yellow light enveloped Felize and her wounds were healed.

Her face was pale and her body was covered in sweat, while Gaze and Torr were supporting her.

Vivan picked up her poleaxe and got up.

"It's almost getting dark and I have some important errands to attend to."

Felize's eyes shined and let out a sigh of relief.

Although she hasn't opened her [Wind Mastery] yet, usually, people would divide the Awakening Ceremony into 2 sessions.

"Don't worry, I don't plan to break our agreement. We will continue this tonight."

When they heard what Vivian just said, Felize's face which was already pale to begin with, somehow managed to become even paler. However, she wouldn't dare to protest. 

"Please forgive me, Priestess... But where should we meet you...?" Torr asked.

He had to ask. He wanted to open his [Fire Mastery] as well and didn't want to spend 50 gold coins.

"Are you familiar with Shirley's Tavern?"

The kids nodded.

"Yes, we are."

"Complete the Bukaroo quest as fast as you can before nightfall and then meet me at Shirley's Tavern."

Vivian was about to turn away and leave but stopped.

"Also, please don't mention about this little agreement of ours to anyone. I'm already dealing with a lot of annoying people who want to be associated with me. I don't want any rumors to spread around that I'm giving you kids preferential treatment which will then lead to you attracting a lot of greedy people. Trust me, the last thing you kids want is to deal with powerful vultures. If you think I'm the worst, I'm nothing compared to them. At least with me, I try to be fair."

As far as Vivian knows, the Temple of Priests has placed some rules on how Priests heal people because it's one of its streams of income. Although she doesn't know what the exact rules are, she'd rather keep this arrangement of theirs a secret just to be safe.

"Do you understand me?"

"Yes," the kids said and nodded.

Vooom!

Vivian suddenly burst out running. She was so fast that she appeared blurry in the eyes of the kids.